Salem is just shy of an hour's drive from Portland yet our great state's capital isn't a place I'd considered a destination for a day or quick overnight trip until we were making our plans for the weekend of the Oregon Garden Brewfest. Instead of heading directly back to Portland on Friday after attending the first day of the festival we decided to extend our weekend with an overnight stay in Salem and take in some of the places we hadn't been to before.
Santiam Brewing and Salem Ale Works were on our short list of places to visit, being centrally located and in fact within walking distance from one another. A friend suggested staying at the Grand Hotel in the heart of downtown but being booked solid we stayed at a serviceable Howard Johnson's up the street from Salem Ale Works.
Santiam sits in a light industrial park, a common location for small breweries. What is uncommon is the number of taps - 12 when we visited - PLUS four, count 'em four, beer engines. As a fan of cask ale, the availability of which is seriously lacking in Portland, it was refreshing to see this many. The added bonus was that two of the cask offerings had pushed counterparts, offering folks the ability to taste side-by-side the difference between the same beer being served two different ways. With all of those options ordering a sampler tray, made from a barrel stave, was the only way to go.
Salem Ale Works is in a business park just across from the Salem airport not far from Santiam. Sitting on one edge of the complex, facing an empty field and with most of the other businesses closed when we visited on a Friday night, the sidewalk patio was a peaceful place to drink through a sampler tray. If the weather is not conducive to patio seating, there is also a small bar and additional seating indoors.
The third place we visited, pretty much just because it was on our way back to the HoJo from Salem Ale Works, was Sparky's Brewing. We were told that it was a combo homebrew shop/bar/brewery so I didn't hold out huge hopes but I am so glad we didn't skip it. Sparky's is primarily a bar - a bar with a great tap list that utilizes a Digital Pour menu displaying their Kilo Hops IPA, 25 other beers, four ciders, three wines and even two kombuchas. They have a kitchen and decor that was far more than expected. If I lived nearby you can bet my face would be a familiar one here.
In case you decide to recreate our trip there's something else you should know. There's a Popeye's between Sparky's and HoJo's. Not much better then ending a day of drinking than with a bag of Popeye's.
My last note on planning a trip to Salem is to visit Vagabond Brewing. We have been there a couple of times before - GREAT place - and the only reason we didn't visit this time is that they're on the north side of town, farther than we wanted to venture that night. But it's definitely worth a visit, just plan to do so either on your way into or out of town.
In April we went down to Silverton for our second year at the Oregon Garden Brew Fest but we were running ahead of schedule and decided to make a detour to Salem. Two choices were available: Vagabond Brewing and Santiam Brewing, neither of which we'd visited nor had beer from before so it was a horse apiece. The decision ended up being made by the clock. It was just past 3pm and with Vagabond opening at 3, but Santiam not until 4, the decision was made.
We followed the map to, no surprise, a light industrial area with a helpful sign at the driveway letting us know beer was ---->. Walking in we were greeted by a large space, much more than necessary for brewing and a simple taproom. Ample seating, all made in house except for the collection of leather sofas grouped together in an area that doubles as a stage for live music, dart boards and a pool table easily fit into the space.
With beer being our mission we bellied up to the bar where Alvin introduced himself and poured us our first flight. He told us the operation is a collaboration of four former Marines, two hailing from Salem and two from California. As with other multi-owner breweries, each person contributes their strengths, be it brewing, marketing, handling the business operations, etc.
We started out with one flight and added on three more samples so that we could sample all nine Vagabond beers that were available. The All Rye, All Rye, All Rye and NW Passage Stout, which surprised me by being their highest ABV beer, were my favorites. Mag's tastes lean a bit more malty and he found the On the Road Red to be right up his alley.
Once our thirst was quenched Alvin graciously offered to give us a tour of the place. The brewery space dwarfs the existing 4 bbl steam system; an intentional move to ensure that a physical move would not be needed when they were ready to scale up. Currently that also means that there is plenty of room for 4 Spirits Distillery bourbon barrels and Kings Estate Pinot Noir barrels, which will of course be filled with beer.
There are also plans to open a kitchen, a project that will be spearheaded by one of the Vagabond wives, following her completion at culinary school. In the meantime, customers can bring their own food in and food carts are encouraged to come around, especially on the weekends when the place fills.
The visit, while unplanned, turned out to be a great lead-in to the festival and fell in line with nearly every other small brewery visit. The brewers/owners were happy to tell us as much as we wanted about their operation and the beers showed promise. Since the visit I've been following them on Facebook and let me tell you, if I lived in Salem you can bet I'd be spending plenty of time at Vagabond. It seems as though there is always something going on, from live music to game night to cheering on a sports team.
This year marks the 10th Annual Oregon Garden Brewfest and our second year attending it. While last year everything was new and shiny to us, this year we had a better idea of what to expect and were eager to experience it again.
The first thing we knew to expect was that the later in the day we left to get down to Silverton Thursday afternoon, the more traffic there would be. We planned accordingly and found ourselves already nearing the Salem exits from I-5 just after 3 pm. After a quick look at options for ways to spend the hours between then and dinner, we decided to pay a visit to Vagabond Brewing. I'll be telling you more about that soon, but for now, just know that it was worth visiting and if you're in Salem don't pass up the opportunity to go yourself.
Once we arrived at the Oregon Garden Resort and got checked in we headed over to the Fireside Lounge for some pre-dinner drinks. There were plenty of familiar faces but this time instead of getting our beers and finding a seat on one of their comfy couches we opted to stay at the bar. We talked to quite a few people, including owner and brewer of Boring Brewing, John Griffith. I'd exchanged emails and phone calls with John the previous summer in the course of setting up a BREWVANA tour but this was my first time meeting him in person. Not only that but as I was to find out the next day, his Hot Scotch Scottish Ale (brewed with Scotch Bonnet peppers) was outstanding. Enough jumping ahead, a bit on the six-course Brewer's Tasting Dinner first.
The dinner offered a wide range of beers - from well-known breweries (Bridgeport, Stone and Cascade) to younger, less proven ones (Golden Valley, Rusty Truck and Salem Ale Works). Of the six courses there was only one where I didn't enjoy the beer, the food or the pairing and a second one where the beer was excellent but the food was by far my least favorite of the night. As is often the case there was one pairing where I didn't particularly enjoy the beer on its own (Golden Valley Pinot Noir Barrel-Aged Geistbock, pictured) but when paired with the hazelnut crusted goat cheese fritters, I found it much more enjoyable.
Both the second course - Rusty Truck Simcoe CDA with smoked sausage potato cakes - and the fifth course - Cascade Honey Ginger Lime with pork confit-stuffed artichoke - offered great beer, great food and a great pairing of the two. Going into the dinner we told ourselves that since we were staying two nights this year we should take advantage of the post-dinner drinking but alas, our bellies full of beer and food overruled our determination to "stay out" and by 10 pm we were both zonked out.
The next morning we enjoyed the rare opportunity to sleep in. After building a good base at breakfast and a stroll around the gardens there was still some time to kill before it was time to embark on the festival, just enough time for a session in the resort's hot tub. Then it was off to drink!
My plan for this festival, as it is at many, was to avoid the brews I had tried before regardless of how much I like them, and work on trying new-to-me beers. Four beers easily rose to the top: Boring Brewing Hot Scotch, something we had learned about the night before from John, Feckin Brewery Irish Oatmeal Porter, Flat Tail Brewing 6 am Stout and Goodlife Brewing Evil Sister, an imperial version of their Little Sister ISA.
Evil Sister was a heavenly citrus bomb but at 9% a bit to big to drink a ton of. Hot Scotch, while being the most delicious pepper beer I've had, still had more heat than I could drink more than a pint of. That left, when it came to the time in the festival when I still had tickets but had tried all the beers I wanted to, the porter and the stout. Enjoying them alternately until our tickets were exhausted and our bellies starting to grumble for a proper meal made for a great end to the festival.
The festival continues today (Saturday) until 11 pm, with live music starting at 5 pm, and tomorrow 12 - 5 pm. With only an hour's drive between Portland and Silverton, if you're looking for something to do this weekend, it's still a do-able option. Otherwise, keep the last full weekend of April open next year and consider attending the 11th Annual Oregon Garden Brewfest.
